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Nursing Home Lawyer in Maryland

Our Nursing Home Attorney in Maryland is an Advocate for Families & Patients

Individuals and family members who have been injured in Baltimore and Maryland nursing homes, assisted living facilities, group homes and by medical professionals aren’t alone. We’re here to support them. Maryland nursing home abuse attorney Roger Weinberg understands not only the legal issues involved in abuse, neglect and medical malpractice but also the emotions and practical needs of his clients.

This isn’t what you expected and you hoped it would never happen. You put the health and welfare of a loved one in the hands of another, someone you trusted, and that trust was violated. The Maryland nursing home, assisted living facility or group home failed to live up to their word, and your family member has suffered from abuse, neglect or an act of negligence and was injured or killed.

You may be confused and angry, not only at the professional you trusted, but at yourself because you think you made the wrong decision. Don’t blame yourself. Find out who is responsible and make them accountable.

Why You Need a Nursing Home Lawyer in Maryland

With so many baby boomers now beginning to overwhelm nursing homes, overworked staff may become unsympathetic, and even abusive. Residents aren’t cared for properly, resulting in infections, falls and other injuries due to improper supervision. They may not get their meds as prescribed, or wander off the property, and may even be abused by other residents. And yet, management is often more concerned with profits than properly caring for your loved one.

Your loved one is kept in an over-medicated state, or not have their pain managed effectively.

You and family members are not fully or consistently apprised of your relative’s status; or you receive evasive answers to questions about your family member’s condition.

You are discouraged from visiting your relative, or there are delays in allowing you to see your loved one, or you are discouraged from being alone with your family member.

Remember – You Do Have Options

If you or a family member are the victim of abuse or neglect at a nursing home, assisted living facility or group home, you don’t have to accept what the facility told you, believe their explanation and move on. You can take action.

Contact us. You can contact our Maryland nursing home lawyer so we can discuss the situation, your legal rights, the legal rights of your family member and possibly start an investigation into what happened and why.

File a lawsuit. If there’s evidence laws were broken or negligence occurred, you may be able to file a legal action and hold those responsible for the neglect or abuse accountable for their actions.

Receive compensation. Compensation may be available for those who have suffered serious injuries or death because of staff and management who are negligent or who neglect or abuse residents.

Neglect, abuse or medical malpractice can lead to the death of a loved one. Roger Weinberg is a nursing home attorney in Maryland who helps families cope with wrongful death cases by advising them of their rights and investigating why the family member died and who is responsible. Legal actions can be filed and pursued to seek compensation for family members and hopefully correct practices at a facility where a death needlessly occurred.

Identifying Nursing Home Abuse – Common Examples

Abuse and neglect come in many forms and can result in a number of injuries:

Abuse can be financial, physical, emotional or sexual. The harm can be physical, resulting in bruises and broken bones, but also psychological and emotional. Residents can lash out and be angry or be withdrawn and fearful. Sexual abuse can be especially harmful to an elderly or disabled resident not only physically, but they may live in fear, feel a total loss of control over their lives and become depressed.

Nursing home abuse can happen not only at the hands of staff who intentionally harm a resident, but also because of the negligence of a facility that doesn’t keep residents safe and allows one resident to abuse others.

Neglecting a resident’s physical and emotional needs can lead to a quick downward spiral. A fall that shouldn’t have happened can lead to serious injuries or death. Bedsores can develop life-threatening infections. A resident who is not getting proper nutrition may rapidly lose weight, weaken and be susceptible to infections.

Negligence and medical malpractice can allow conditions and diseases to become uncontrollable and lead to serious injuries and death. If a medical professional fails to diagnose a condition, it may progress to the point that it’s difficult or impossible to treat. Giving a resident the wrong medication and/or the wrong dosage can result in serious side effects or the progression of a condition. The resident may be over-medicated to the point that he or she can’t function. The failure of a facility to obtain emergency medical treatment can often be fatal.

Nursing home residents who are not mentally competent due to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease or who have difficulty communicating are especially at risk for abuse or neglect. They’re more vulnerable, and a staff member may feel it will be easier to get away with mistreatment if the resident won’t be believed or can’t identify their attacker.

What Is Wrongful Death?

Wrongful death is the legal term applied to an accident where someone dies because of the negligent (or careless) act of another person or entity.

Wrongful death in nursing homes may be due to willful abuse or negligence by anyone on the staff. By failing to do their job correctly, regardless of whether the behavior was willful or accidental, any nursing home worker may cause an elderly person’s death.

If your family member’s rights are being violated and he or she is being harmed as a result, you should contact our Baltimore nursing home abuse lawyer.

What Qualities Make a Good Nursing Home Abuse Attorney?

A few of the traits you should look for when selecting a nursing home abuse lawyer include:

Law firms which specialize in nursing home abuse

A record of successfully getting justice and proper compensation

Demonstrated strengths of investigating and documenting suspected abuse, including the review of medical and financial records

Someone you can trust and communicate with to professionally represent your loved one’s best interests

Extensive knowledge of the nursing home industry

Access to expert witnesses who can help build a strong case.

Costs of a Nursing Home Lawyer in Maryland

Most nursing home injury lawyers in Maryland work on a contingency basis, meaning that the plaintiff (you, your family, your elderly relative) pays nothing unless their attorney is successful in winning financial compensation. The attorney will then receive a percentage of the damage award, usually between 30 and 40 percent of that award. If you are not awarded any damages, you will not owe any fee.

Settlement vs. Trial

Around nine out of ten injury claims are settled out of court after successful negotiations between the injured plaintiff’s attorney and the liability insurance company which covers the nursing home and/or individual medical professional.

Both sides prefer a settlement over a trial; trials are expensive and pose the risk of an unfavorable decision by the jury. The best way for a plaintiff to win compensation is to have a nursing home attorney who presents a very strong case and is able to press that advantage into a fair and full settlement because the defendants fear they’ll lose (and pay even more) at trial.

What Leads to a Successful Lawsuit Against a Negligent Facility?

A good Baltimore nursing home lawyer and plenty of evidence to support your legitimate claim.

Who Can Be Sued for Your Loved One’s Abuse?

Nursing home management can be held legally responsible through a personal injury lawsuit or a medical malpractice action for harming your loved one if it can be proved that the cause of injury was negligence. Management is responsible for hiring, training and supervising every one of its employees, including doctors and nurses. Therefore, if they fail in their duty, the owners and managers can be held liable for this neglectful behavior and can be forced to pay damages to both your loved one and your family because of the abuse. Additionally, of course, the individual negligent employee and/or medical professional who committed malpractice will be named as defendants.

Should I Feel Bad about Suing a Negligent Nursing Home Facility?

No. You should have confidence that the nursing home or elder care facility you choose will deliver the care they promised. When the facility has betrayed your trust and that of your elderly loved one who is now in danger, you must rescue your relative and make the owners, managers and others who harm them pay for their behavior so they won’t do the same thing to some other unwary family.

What Is Negligence and Why Is It Important in these Cases?

There’s a difference between a simple accident and one which is caused by negligence, or carelessness, or willful behavior. All are a breach of care that is owed your family member. Nursing homes are held to high standards of care because they are supposed to deliver professional quality services. When they fail in this duty and a resident is injured, it is their obligation to not only set things right, but to pay for this error and the harm caused by their unprofessional actions.

How Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Roger Weinberg Can Help

Baltimore Attorney Roger Weinberg is a pioneer in representing nursing home, assisted living, and developmental disability victims and their families in Maryland. We have successfully concluded legal claims involving abuse, neglect, negligence and medical malpractice against some of Maryland’s largest nursing homes chains, assisted living facilities and group homes:

ManorCare

Genesis

Future Care

Lorien

Emeritus

Brookdale

Sava

Adventist

North Arundel

Hart Heritage

Brightview

The ARC

eMerge

If You Suspect Elder Abuse, Don’t Hesitate to Give Us a Call

If you have entrusted your family member to a place that you suspect has broken its promise to care for them, you should seek the advice of a nursing home attorney in Maryland as soon as you can. As time passes, it becomes more difficult to investigate neglect and abuse claims.

Documents and records may be lost or destroyed.

Potential witnesses may move away.

The victim’s health may worsen, which could impact how well the person recalls what happened or his or her ability to communicate with us.

There are also time limits for filing a lawsuit.

Statute of Limitations for Nursing Home Abuse Cases

There are two statutes of limitations involving nursing home abuse in Maryland. If a personal injury case is filed where a caregiver or non-medical employee is liable, the statute of limitations is three-years. But if a medical malpractice claim is filed against a doctor, nurse or pharmacist, it can be as much as five years. In both cases, the statute begins on the date the injury was discovered.

Not Sure if It’s Abuse? Get a Free Consultation and Find Out

The Maryland nursing home lawyers at the Law Offices of Roger S. Weinberg, LLC, can help you recognize the warning signs of abuse and get the justice and compensation that your loved one deserves. For compassionate, competent advocacy from attorneys who understand what you are going through and know what it takes to successfully litigate an abuse or neglect case against a Maryland nursing home, assisted living facility or group home, call (855) 529-2644 or use our contact form to arrange for a free consultation.

Who Is Responsible for Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect?

Ultimately, the owners and administrators are responsible; but anyone from a doctor to an attendant may be culpable for the abuse or neglect of your elder family member and can be held liable for the breach of their legal duty to your loved one.

How Is Fault Determined?

A good nursing home abuse lawyer in Maryland identifies the abuse suffered by your elderly loved one by interviewing witnesses and poring over medical and financial records. A relatively new state law now allows you to place a hidden camera (commonly called a "granny cam") in your loved one’s room. However, you should speak with your lawyer before installing one so you won’t inadvertently break any federal “wiretap” laws, which could endanger your recorded evidence.

Documenting Evidence of Nursing Home Abuse

Often, the first evidence you encounter will be visual. Bruises, bedsores and other unusual wounds should be photographed (secretly, without drawing anyone else’s attention). It’s best you have some photographic evidence to show prospective attorneys. Smartphones are perfect for this task and for recording any preliminary conversations with employees, other residents and your loved one.

Your lawyer will advise you what other pictures you can take and interviews you might try to conduct which will be helpful to your case. Both pictures and recorded interviews could be very powerful evidence that support a successful personal injury or medical malpractice claim.

Causes of Nursing Home Neglect

Understaffing leads to a lot of problems. Often this is the fault of the owner who gets by with the bare minimum of employees. Another owner/administrative shortcoming is not properly investigating employees they hire. Some with criminal records, drug problems or behavioral issues fall through the nursing homes’ investigative cracks and end up harming elderly residents. Security might be lax, which could account for residents' wandering off the property, or for unwanted “visitors” who don’t belong in the facility. In short, a nursing home which is not run professionally is vulnerable to a host of dangers that threaten your loved one.

Nursing Home Abuse Statistics

Twenty percent of all deaths in the elderly (65+ years of age) which result from slip and fall accidents occur in nursing homes. That’s about 1,800 per year.

According to both the CDC and Medicare, around two million cases of elder abuse occur every year, with one in ten elderly individuals experiencing some form of abuse.

Every year, more than 40 percent of nursing home residents report abuse, and more than 90 percent say that they or other residents in their elder care facility have been neglected.

Often, elderly patients suffer abuse without reporting it. Many of these residents are unable to communicate effectively because of physical or mental infirmities, and others remain silent because they fear retaliation from nursing home staff members.